Distractor probability changes the shape of the attentional template.

Geng, Joy J.; DiQuattro, Nicholas E.; Helm, Jonathan L.

doi:10.1037/xhp0000430

Cited by 76 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…In this context, no such special tuning occurred in anticipation of more heterogeneous distractors. On the other hand, experience with irrelevant information does seem to be necessary for improving the allocation of attention away from distractors within a given search array (Cunningham & Egeth, 2016;Geng et al, 2017;Vatterott & Vecera, 2012). Taken together, these results suggest that more precise distractor rejection requires repeated exposure to relevant and irrelevant visual features, implying that this improved tuning of attention could involve perceptual learning instead of, or in addition to, better cognitive control.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Recent research by Geng, DiQuattro, and Helm (2017) has directly shown that templates are indeed sharpened when distractors are more likely to be similar to the target, lending some support to the hypothesis that the template memory benefit is related to segregation of the target from concurrent distractors. One potentially important factor, t h o u g h , i s t h e c o n s i s t e n c y o f t a r g e t c o l o r s .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

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Do we remember templates better so that we can reject distractors better?

Rajsic

Woodman

2019

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Feature Integration Theory proposed that attention shifted between target-like representations in our visual field. However, the nature of the representations that determined what was target like received less specification than the nature of the attention shifts. In recent years, visual search research has focused on the nature of the memory representations that we use to guide our shifts of attention. Sensitive measures of memory quality indicate that the template representations are remembered better than other, merely maintained, memories. Here we tested the hypothesis that we prepare for difficult search tasks by storing a higher fidelity target representation in working memory than we do when preparing for an easy search task. To test this hypothesis, we explicitly tested participants' memory of the target color they searched for (i.e., the attentional template) versus another memory that was not used to guide attention (i.e., an accessory representation) following blocks of searches with easy-to-find targets (i.e., distractors were homogeneously colored) to blocks of searches with hard-to-find targets (i.e., distractors were heterogeneously colored). Although homogeneous-distractor searches required minimal precision for distractor rejection, we found that templates were still remembered better than accessories, just like we found in a heterogeneous-distractor search. As a consequence, we suggest that stronger memories for templates likely reflects the need to decide whether new perceptual inputs match the template, and not an attempt to create a better template representation in anticipation of difficult searches.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Do we remember templates better so that we can reject distractors better?

Rajsic

Woodman

2019

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Although challenged by some, this dissociation indicates that distractors, even when similar to the target, can be more efficiently ignored when the search allows for goal‐directed feature selection. Intriguingly, recent evidence indicates that the (neural) representation of the target template in working memory does not necessarily need to be a veridical copy of the target, but is a highly dynamic representation that can be flexibly adapted to also incorporate distractor information . That is, the target template representation can be strategically shifted off‐veridical to optimize the ability to distinguish targets from distractors and thereby improve attentional selectivity .…”

Section: Indirect Preparatory Distractor Suppressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intriguingly, recent evidence indicates that the (neural) representation of the target template in working memory does not necessarily need to be a veridical copy of the target, but is a highly dynamic representation that can be flexibly adapted to also incorporate distractor information. 26,[60][61][62] That is, the target template representation can be strategically shifted off-veridical to optimize the ability to distinguish targets from distractors and thereby improve attentional selectivity. 17 Fine-tuning of the target template in relation to distractor features may take place in the lateral prefrontal cortex due to the abundance of neurons with mixed selectivity in this area.…”

Section: Indirect Distractor Suppression Through Template-to-distractmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition in selective attention

Moorselaar

Slagter

2020

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

150

124

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Our ability to focus on goal‐relevant aspects of the environment is critically dependent on our ability to ignore or inhibit distracting information. One perspective is that distractor inhibition is under similar voluntary control as attentional facilitation of target processing. However, a rapidly growing body of research shows that distractor inhibition often relies on prior experience with the distracting information or other mechanisms that need not rely on active representation in working memory. Yet, how and when these different forms of inhibition are neurally implemented remains largely unclear. Here, we review findings from recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies to address this outstanding question. We specifically explore how experience with distracting information may change the processing of that information in the context of current predictive processing views of perception: by modulating a distractor's representation already in anticipation of the distractor, or after integration of top‐down and bottom‐up sensory signals. We also outline directions for future research necessary to enhance our understanding of how the brain filters out distracting information.

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“…In general, search performance is best when people know in advance the exact features that define the distractors and the targets (Schoonveld, Shimozaki, & Eckstein, 2007;Eckstein, 2011). In fact, in some situations it has even been shown that participants often base their target template not on the optimal way of detecting the target but on the optimal way of distinguishing the target from the distractors (e.g., Navalpakkam and Itti, 2007;Scolari & Serences, 2009;Geng, DiQuattro & Helm, 2017;Yu & Geng, 2019).…”

Section: The Role Of Distractors In Searchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Target Templates in Low Target-Distractor Discriminability Visual Search Have Higher Resolution, but the Advantage They Provide is Short-lived

Lau¹,

Pashler²,

Brady³

2019

Preprint

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When you search repeatedly for a set of items among very similar distractors, does that make you more efficient in locating the targets? To address this, we had observers search for two categories of targets among the same set of distractors across trials. After a few blocks of trials, the distractor set was replaced. In two experiments, we manipulated the level of discriminability between the targets and distractors before and after the distractors were replaced. Our results suggest that in the presence of repeated distractors, observers generally become more efficient. However, the difficulty of the search task does impact how efficient people are when the distractor set is replaced. Specifically, when the training is easy, people are more impaired in a difficult transfer test. We attribute this effect to the precision of the target template generated during training. In particular, a coarse target template is created when the target and distractors are easy to discriminate. These coarse target templates do not transfer well in a context with new distractors. This suggests that learning with more distinct targets and distractors can result in lower performance when context changes, but observers recover from this effect quickly (within a block of search trials).

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Distractor probability changes the shape of the attentional template.

Cited by 76 publications

References 84 publications

Do we remember templates better so that we can reject distractors better?

Do we remember templates better so that we can reject distractors better?

Inhibition in selective attention

Target Templates in Low Target-Distractor Discriminability Visual Search Have Higher Resolution, but the Advantage They Provide is Short-lived

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